Sunday, November 17, 2013

I
usually through out the week collect several experience which I can write about
to you on Pday. This week, there were so many, but one thing that I
cannot get over is COUNTING.

So,
as you know, I’ve been the happiest missionary there ever was. After the
storm last week (my area is all fine here!), I realized how lucky I am to be
here. Here on my mission. Here in my area. Here at this time
with the companions I’ve had. Not just the time and place though, but
everything that has gotten me here: my training, my previous areas, my granted
hopes to be moved to the Legaspi Mission when the Naga Mission split, all the
people I’ve met and taught, etc, etc, etc. I guess, to put it simply, I
wouldn’t have it any other way.

Alright,
let’s just back to where I am presently: Just finished the favorite transfer of
my mission. You’ve heard of that church movie “17 Miracles”?
Basically about the early sainted coming to Salt Lake and 17 of the miracles
that happened to the people on their journeys. So I decided to count the
miracles I’ve seen in just the last transfer. As I tallied, my pen could
hardly keep up with how much I was reading. Meaning to say, I’ve
witnessed more miracles that I can express to you in a simple, rushed
email! These miracles include true conversion, being led to others, others
being lead to us, families coming back to church, being perfectly guided
in giving Priesthood blessings, having everything we planned fall through just
to have a more perfect way be opened to us, etc, etc, etc. Remember last
transfer when I was so excited that one Sunday about 51 people coming to
church? Okay, ready for this Sunday’s number? … 64! 11 of
whom were investigators! Does anyone realize that this 64 is double
what it was when I first arrived in this area? I hope I never get
transferred, I love it so much here!

So
to say it again, this week I’m been COUNTING. Counting miracles – the
miracles I see now, and the ones that got me here. One more time… I’m the
happiest missionary there ever was (:

Love,
Elder Shane Brown!

P.S.
“There is nothing so wonderful—nothing—as tasting the joy and success of
missionary labors.”

-Elder
LeGrand Richards

Pictures
- When you're companion is going home, you get a lot! Enjoy -

First of all, I'm safe! I'm sure most of
you heard about Super Typhoon Yolanda - International name "Haiyan".
That's the topic for this week. Read my transcribed selected
journal entries:

Wednesday, Nov. 6 - "Good morning,
please inform all of the missionaries in your zone that there will be a super
typhoon tomorrow afternoon to Friday morning... be prayerful, alert, and
be wise. We have a "curfew" tomorrow 4PM in the afternoon all
missionaries must be in their apartment. If earlier than 4PM you feel
that it is not safe to be outside go in your apartment. Thank you."
"President Guanzon has instructed us to relay this... All
missionaries should prepare food and water, candles and to load up their cell
phones enough for 3 days. All missionaries whose residences are near
mountains and shorelines are to move inland with other missionary apartments.
Everyone should be home and remain indoors nutil after the
typhoon..." So those were the texts that came from the office
today...

Thursday, Nov 7 - "If you have any money
on your cards, please withdraw now. ATMs will be expected to shut down
for 1 week during the typhoon." ...this was another storm text. So
much hype.... No storm yet. Apparently it'll landfall in Samar
around 9AM.

We went forth with the
zone training this morning. The whole time, all the church leaders were
having an emergency meeting then bought supplies for the next few days (two
sacs of rice, huge boxes of canned tuna, etc.)

Friday, Nov 9 - -Storm update- Last night
around 2:45AM, I woke up to E. Williams about to open the door to go outside (our
room is on the roof). As soon as he turned handle, the door swung
open! I was getting soaked there in my bed because water was getting
through my windows - the wind was insane. We went downstairs and there
was water all the way down the stairs that had come from under the door!

This morning was normal
when we woke up then halfway through personal studay it all of a sudden got
crazy again. Our bedroom door flung open on it's own! We spent 45
minutes making baracades and mopping. We have no water pressure and
lights flash as electricity cuts on and off. 12:36PM - Lost power.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand that was my first real bagyo
(storm) experience! It's always rainy here, but of course, this one was
different. Life is pretty much back to normal here. My mission is
the one right about Tacloban Mission (where Tyler Kesler is) so though
we were hit hard, it wasn't as bad as their mission. Some of their
missionaries have not been contacted yet.

Well I'm safe. Thanks for all the concern.
It's needed elsewhere now though. There's no reason to worry me
here. We were safe. If Moses can part the Red Sea, I can survive a
storm in a 3-story concrete apartment. Love you!

Elder Shane Brown

Pictures - The net is super slow right now..
I'll send the rest in another email...

1-5. Storm stuff. Preparations, clogging
our door, etc.

6-10. Other stuff. Views, exchanges
(again!) with Max Moncur which were awesome!

Wow, where to start? Pretty much three things describe this
week: No power, elections and the busiest week of teaching of my whole
mission. Awesome!

No power. Hah, okey well you know how power likes to
randomly go out here? Tuesday we heard a blasting noise and all of a
sudden lossed power. Went onto the roof - everyone had electricity but
us! ..this was not a normal brown out... After accepting that
something went wrong, we decided to wait and see if it would come back as
usual. Wednesday morning... still waiting... thought - What's gong to
happen to the 2 1/2 kilos of hot dogs in the freezer? - took those to the
sisters' apartment then went to the electric company. Thursday - still no
power. No ref (fridge), electric fan, etc. ... Go back and complain
again at the power company. Friday morning, none. Call them. Finally
on Friday afternoon they came to fix it. A truck load of guys pulled up
and they hopped out, set up a ladder, scaled up our house and a few minutes
later it was fixed... We had no power for four days, just for a four minute
repair job... It was fine though. Once our emergency light starting dying
on Wednesday, I got to take some more candle-lit showers for the first time in
since my second area.

Okay so elections. I kinda mentioned this last week,
right? Well elections are today. Some how we teach tons of people
that are in the running. And of course, they all want us Whites
praying they'll win. Hah just everyone... "Brother, pray for me
brad." We had this guy come up to us and give us this huge stack of
hand outs for his campaign to "give to our friends". Having
kindly explaining we're not allowed to do that, I give him in return the bunch
of pass-along cards I had stuffed in my shirt pocket. Anyways, we worked
extra hard at finding new investigators this week. Why? Hah, we're
pretty sure everyone won't be as b nice to us once the elections are over and
they're not trying to make themselves look better by talking to the two
Amerikanos. My next point:

We were so busy this week! We taught so much. We got a
bunch of lessons one day so we decided we go for the standards of excellence
for our mission, it was fun. It was nice being really busy, but in our
actual area. Usually we're busy because we're going to other areas and
doing random things for other missionaries (interviews, etc.). What made
me more excited though was that one less-active family is still coming back
strong. The baptism of their kids really seems it'll be able to
happen (:

That's it. Great week. Members helped a lot. I'm
praying I'll stay 9 months in this area - I love it here!

First of all... Happy birthday to my mother!!! Also to my second mother, Shauna Elliott! October
23rd is the day to spoil them! I'm pretty sure my mom is turning 29
(AGAIN) so that's how many candles will go on the cake (:

This week was exciting.
Tuesday morning, we were having our studies when Williams stops and just
says, "Are you shaking?" A pause. I think about it... I'm
not shaking, but hala(!) the whole building is!!!..... EARTHQUAKE! As
I'm sure you can picture, I made a dash to the front door just in time to get
out of our apartment before the whole thing collapsed!!! -that last bit
is just a joke. However, I freaked out! Though it turned out to be
okay... (I refused to go inside for a few minutes for fear of
aftershock). Joking aside, I'm pretty sure the earthwuake was quite
destructive more to the South of the Philippines. (Cebu?)

It's elections next week
for all the baranggay's (communities). This simply means that people
strap massive speakers to anything with wheels and a motor then drive around
all day blasting the same voiced over song onver and over and over again in
support of their candidate. ...This would never fly in America.

I've finished and am of
course again starting the Book of Mormon. Somethings which have really
stuck out to me are all of the verses I remember sharing with specific people.
I'll get to a verse or story, and can totally picture myself in a lesson
I taught a year ago. Really makes me appreciate every moment I've had
here, and will still have. And we've certainly been making the most of
it! I can't think of a time where I've felt the Spirit more than I do
now! The whole promise of the constant companionship of the
Holy Ghost is true. To give you an idea of what comes with this gift from
constant worthiness, I quote Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance..." (this was the topic of my talk
yesterday).

That pretty much
describes it. So simple true and wonderful. Thanks for your support
(letters!). Love you!

Elder Shane Brown

Pictures -

3-4. Coming home from a
funeral service. This was supposed to be a bridge but they never finished
it (hence, the trees)

What a week! What
a weekend! Maybe the week first, then I suppose I'll get to the
weekend... First off, my new companion! Elder Williams from Orem, Utah.
He was the finance elder When I first got to the field so we've known
each other for a while. Two notable things here: 1. Another American!
(we're the only American companionship in the mission except for people in
training). 2. Another companion who goes home this transfer! My companion
from just a week ago is now at home with his family. In six weeks, it
will be the same with Elder Williams. In 9 months, it'll be the same with
Elder Brown! What else... Apparently, khaki pants have been approved for quite
some time now. Guess I just have to find some suitable foot apparel then
I'll buy myself some khakis! Also, a new elder in my zone fresh from the
MTC saw me at district meeting and knew who I was. How? He has been
reading my mission blog (these emails copied and pasted) before he got to the
MTC. Good to know at least someone actually reads these
things! ;)

The weekEND. This
was the start. The start of...well, general conference! So what,
again, is conference like in the Philippines? First off, it's a week late
because of the time difference. The whole district (or stake) watches it
at the district (or stake) center. Attendance is low, very low, for the
Saturday sessions. The chapel is swarmed Sunday morning, but calmed down
again in the afternoon. It's a bit different than being in the comfort of
my home, enjoying the soft, warm and tender comfort of... my mom's cinnamon
rolls? Yes. A big difference compared to home traditions is
Priesthood session. This conference, Priesthood was my favorite.

The Priesthood Session
was shown both Saturday morning AND evening. All the other elders went to
the morning session so we expected numbers to be low for the afternoon session.
Wouldn't be like at home with hundreds of fathers and sons sitting
together. Rather, we walked into the chapel five minutes before the start
and it was... just us. My and my companion to watch Priesthood together.
What a great experience. Wouldn't be like at home, running off with
friends during the songs. Luckily, the entire District Center was not
completely lonely with it's two Elders. But a young-ish couple from our
group eventually showed up a bit after the start. Our Branch President
came as well even later. Whoops - getting ahead of myself in the story!
As soon as the session started, I felt a wave of the Spirit come over me,
just like it felt when an apostle spoke to us at the MTC. Wouldn't be
like at home where I'd be too focused on sneaking a text or playing Fruit
Ninja. We arrived to the congregational hymn which required all five of
us to stand and sing. This, you'd imagine, was not like it's be at home
with the army of Priesthood packed into the church. but, I still sang
"with gusto"! (: President Uchtdorf gave my favorite talk of
the conference (http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/you-can-do-it-now?lang=eng)
and soon it was over. Surely, no one would be skipping the closing hymn
just to beat the traffic leaving the church. Upon ending, it was time to
eat. No, this wouldn't be the classy dinner with Dad, Grandpa and the
uncles. Instead, it's be a nice, modest meal with my great missionary
companion. Arriving home would normally mean off to friends' houses.
For a change, it was straight to planning the next day, writing in
journal, etc. Yes, you could say this conference was different (not sure
why I never talked about the last conferences here like this). You could
also say it was the most meaningful and impactful of all. There is so
much revelation I received. So much to share. So much to do.
But so little time to email it all! (:

Love, missionary work
(work of salvation - with investigators AND lost members), and marriage seemed
to be major themes along with enduring to the end. It's great! I
love conference! Looking forward to one more in the Philippines six months
from now! Hope you all enjoyed conference as much as I did!

To describe this week in a couple of words: ...busy, sudden,
happy, exciting, random, crazy, loaded, exchanges, tired, food, home, sleep,
fun, exhausted, eat, laugh, bless, smile, whoops, uh-oh, haha, tired, sleep...BEST!
--> This week was the best! I'm going to try so hard to keep this
short. Just triast that every single sentance could have been it's own
fuill-length report.

Coming into this week, it was supposed to be a nive, smooth last
week for E. Alldredge. Then it turned into this: MOnday, Pday. Tues, MLC
(Leadership Council). Wed, exchanges in Tiwi. Thurs, exchanges in Santo
Domingo. Fri, zone training. Sat, baptism! Sun, last day of E.
Alldredge/ best day of church. Much more between the lines.

I'll try to break this down a little. Starting with the unfun
things: Lost two pens two days in a row and ate throat. Yes... I
ate throat. It wasn't too bad, but still... throat.
Highlights: Exchanges with Max Moncur! The classic drinking mango juice
out of a plastic bag at a town fiesta was made even better with someone from
home (I got to work with him all day, see pictures). Also, remember that
super progressing less-active family? (Bondad). WEll now they've got
their friends coming to church and their kids will be baptized! Then best
for last, right? The baptism on Saturday. The baptism, the baptism,
the baptism. This was so great. Better start a new paragraph.

So the baptism was actually for the sisters. A family. They met
President Guanzon (mission president) at a district conference then requested
that President would be the one to baptize them. He said yes. This
of course meant that now we had to do all we could for the week (when we actually
had time to work in our area, only 2 1/2 days!) to get an investigator
there! Remember that guy named Noel? Maybe I didn't mention
him. Anyways, we had the most spiritual lesson ever with him weeks ago
then never got back to hom because he was always busy :( Nonetheless, we
decided to visit him at work (selling bananas) and invite him to the
baptism. he came. It was the best. Then he came to church
with his daughter the next day. Why though that the baptism the
best? During the actualy ordinance, he lookds at me and asked if we
have a picture of a baptism then says, "I need to show my family
this. We're getting baptized." Then during the testimonies
after, a baptized girl was vrying and Noel leans in and whispers, "I know
why she's crying. She's feeling the Spirit. That's what I felt when
you first taught me." Then the young baptized son mentioned not
drinking coffee and we were worried because Noel doesn't know the Word of
Wisdom (we've only taught him once) but Noel says to us,"Okay, that's it,
I'm not drinking coffee anymore." It was better that anything you
could imagine, or I could describe.

For Alldredge's last week of the mission, not only did we hear a
thick Filipino accent of "God be with you 'till we meet again" over
and over, but we also reached our companionship goal when we started three
months ago: 50 people at church. Yesterday... 51! (: I was going to
include a quote but I couldn't find it. It was something about
incredible, everlasting joy and happiness, I'm sure you get the point
(: I can't say more! Love you!

Elder Shane Brown

P.S. I'm in Legaspi right now with two temporary companions and I'll get my new companion tomorrow. Also, we watch general conference this coming weekend so I'll mention those things next week.

Well, another week has zoomed by! Lots of great things
happening here though. Some stories:

Okay, two things you should remember: 1. It rains here randomly
always. 2. We love to stand on the back of jeeps and hang on to the rail
on the roof to have our upper bdies lying through the wind. Now,
this: We were coming home one night on the back of a jeep (as descibed)
when it felt like it was just starting to drizzle. I looked up at the sky
- no clouds. Not abnormal though to somehow have rain with no
clouds. Anyways, as it was "drizzling", a bug hit the corner of
my mouth. Then in started to "rain" harder. All of a
sudden, bugs where everywhere! It wasn't raining - we were just driving
through a massive swarm of bugs! Just pelting them! ...YUKS!
This gross story was not a highlight, thought I felt it might as well be shared
in attempts to spice this up a little..

You'd think there couldn't be anything better than that... But!
there is. Remember that one dad who walked like an hour and a half with a
crazy bad hernia just to get to church a few weeks ago? Well guess what,
he and his family are totally active now! The mom and dad gave talks in
church yesterday! We were teaching them the other day and the mom was
like, "You know, up until the Sunday I came back to chuch (3 weeks ago), I
was a total active minister in the church." She went on of course to describe how she
was truly touched this time and will never leave the church again.
Moreoever, she's trying to figure out now how she can share our messge with her
father and siblings. She and the whole family have felt a strong witness
of the Spirit that this is truw. This kind of echoes what the Lord said
in Ether 4:11 about people who believe, "...him will I visit with the
manifestations of my Spirit, and he shall know and bear record." So
this family has felt the Spirit, knows what it is, and now seeks ways to bear
record of it. Needless to say, they are a great strength to our little
group! ...PROGRESS.

What a week! As
in, what a week talaga! So next week we had the plan to go to Catanduanes
(the island in our zone with a district - 10 missionaries - on it). Well,
on Monday evening we got a text saying that E. Alldredge has an appointment for
some Visa stuff next week that he couldn't reschedule and thus the thrilling
thought came simultaneously to our minds, "We're going to Cats
tomorrow!!!" We texted everyone our new plans and on Tuesday morning
we were of for Cats (Catanduanes).

It was great to be back
on Catanduanes (see pictures). It was fantastic to get the 2632 viruses
removed from my USB (literally), but pretty much the most important thing we
did was find apartments for the new missionaries coming in next transfer.
We set up a new contract everyday we were there. I secretly loved
getting called "Mr. Brown" over and over again (despite my equally
repeated corrections to "Elder Brown"). The whole
time there really was a pleasure. We not only got to go to caves and
waterfalls, but we got to visit all the different missionary apartments and
work a little bit with the missionaries in their own areas. But even with
that, by Friday, I was ready for our vacation, I mean trip, to end. It's
funny how badly I just wanted to go back to the normal schedule of studying in
the morning then working for a few hours, lunch + study and work until night.
You really come to love it after a while.

Okay, I'm saving the
best for last. Also, this is the last thing that happened having to do
with the island venture - the way home. The several hours boat ride home.
Hah, here it goes: First, it was windy. So, so windy. A
result, they said, from the super typhoon traveling just north of the
Philippines. If you can imagine poor Elder Brown locked in a boat getting
tossed around by the sea, it wasn't fun. Nor was in fun when I sat in
fright of the the large, standing A/C unit threatening numerous times to tumble
over me. What really made this picture for me though was when I was
finally drifting off to sleep until I heard some rustling on the ground then a
good shriek from Alldredge - "RAT!" Boy! - if I wasn't freaked out
earlier, I was really on edge now with this little (massive!) guy sitting
behind the air con for the entire rest of the way home! And when I say
"on edge", I mean I was as far from the edge of my seat as possible
for the duration of the ride. ...You'd understand it more had you been
there...

Life continues here in
this beautiful part of the Philippines. Although we had almost no time to
work in our area this week, we still had 45 people come to church in our once
little group! (: That's a record! We want to try and get 50 before
Alldredge leaves in two weeks. We are truely being blessed here. I
feel it. And I sure see the fruits of it.

I wish I could share
with you all my experiences. The perfect excuse though is just as true as
ever - I couldn't put it into words. Thanks for everything, and have a
holly, jolly Christmas (Christmas music is in full-force here)!

What a wonderful week it
has been! I feel like enough significant things happened that I could
have sent home a lengthy and story-filled report each day! Also, I'm tired.
So, so tired. And that's how it goes (: Exciting week though.
not only did we have a bike rider crash into us, but we had a mission
tour!

I'll start with the
crash. So we were on a tricycle going out to our area and I was on the
motor bike part facing sideways, my comp was in the side car bit. I was
fading to sleep (unbelievably I'm tied!) when I was jolted by a combined scream
then, "SMASH!" Followed by screeching metal! I looked in
front of the trike - a bike was skidding under the trike with a guy sliding
down the asphalt being torn on by the road as the driver desperately squeezed
with all his might the horribly out-dated brakes. "Angelo!",
was my first thought. (a member who we were going to work with). My comp
jumped out, trike still moving, thinking we were going to roll or something.
Long story short, all the old ladies (me included) we completely
speechless once we finally were able to come to a stop. Luckily though,
even though this guy's (not Angelo pala) bike was utterly ruined, he was able
to get up and move over to the side of the street. Then, after my comp
hopped back in, the trike driver just kept on driving as if that was something
completely normal. I wasn't tired after that! Apparently though,,
the biker tried to pass us after drafting for a while then when he passed us,
his foot slipped causing him to fall right in front us us then
"BOOM", we came ramming into him. ...next news is equally
exciting, but for different reasons:

Once a year, a General
Authority from the Philippines Area Presidency comes to each mission to hold a
"Mission Tour". They basically stay here for a few days and
meet with the missionaries. This year, Elder Nielson of the Seventy, the
President of the Church in all the Philippines, came to visit. On two of
the three days he was here, he help two all day meetings with the missionaries.
One for half of the mission, the other for the other half. We were
told to read a certain talk in preparation and also that 4 missionaries would
be randomly selected (regardless of gender, time in mission, etc.) to be
interviewed by President Nielson after the conference. Of course, along
with every other missionary, I was sure I'd not be picked to be interviews.
Well as we ate a snack upon closing the conference, I found out that I
was wrong! I was one to be interviewed! And so, I had my first, and
maybe last interview with a General Authority of the Church. I'd talk
more about it, but... I couldn't even begin to put this wonderful experience
into words.

Thus, after an amazing
interview with the Philippines Area President along with hitting a biker on the
street, my week was much more than the ordinary (extraordinary?). To add
to that, we had an investigator tell us all of these superstitious stories which
I just find to be fascinating. Also tons of people came to church and
within the next four weeks we'll know if this group is going to become a
branch! Plus many more stories for another day.

What I feel here must be
a bit like the Nephites of old did when Christ was praying for them, "And
no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the
hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and
heard.... and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls... (3 Nephi
17:17). That describes my week. Hope it's fitting for yours as
well!

Love, Elder Shane Scully
Brown

Pictures -

1. A bridge over a
river.

2. Me with Max
Moncur and another elder who looks just like Jordan Rex! Way to go
RSM! (:

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

I can't keep up with the
days! It's just going so fast! And here I am, loving it all. Had
a great week this week. I've really just been happy. it remids me
of that one hymn, "I'm walking on sunshine, whooooaaahhh! And don't
it feel GOOD?!"

We were having
companionship sutdy the other day. We got a text so I started to type out
this long, lengthy reply. Once I sent it, I noticed E. Alldredge had
begin to hum. I listened to hear what he was humming. my guess was
right - "I'm coming home" by Christ Duaghtry... Haha, sure is
great to be with a companion who is going home! On that note though, he
really ius focused on the word and we're doing great. Adding to our joy
was Sunday when a certain brother came to church. He walked an hour and a
half with a hernia to come to church after years of
inactivity. Hopefully his family will follow next (:

Also, Sunday was just a
great day in general. We had all these great lessons planned, but it all
got changed around last second. We got to the district center building at
1PM for a one hour meeting with branch missionaries. More than an hour
later, we finally started! (loving the Filipino time) After going
significatnyl over time (something which would be anticipated when you start 15
minutes after it wsa supposed to end), we got to join a meeting
with the district presidency and all the branch presidents. There, we
talked about missionary work. I loved to hear about the progress here.
Secretly, deep inside I just get excited to go home and be a great,
supportive member to the missionaries (probably easier to say while I'm
actually here) when we talk about coordination. Anyways, I just felt a
strongly witness of the Spirit that this hastenging of the work thing is real!
How wonderful it is to be able to participate! After this, we were
over-eager to get to leave and teach at last, but again, something came up.

We were invited
(strongly encouraged) by all these presidents to go attend a funeral service.
It was for an inactive brother whole name I had never before heard.
I knew none of the family, nor anything really about them. Just that
we were invited to come along. A member was the concluding speaker.
As he talked about the ressurection and Plan of Salvation, I found myself
tearing up along with all the other moms and grandmas. Maybe they were
crying over their lost loved one. but maybe it was really because of the
same, powerful confirmation of the Spirit I was feeling. I just love that
the whole Plan of Salvation is true. And the actaully know what it is!
I had to teach Sunday School in church (of course they just gave me a big
time to prepare the lesson when they gave me the manual and the news I'd be
teaching right when sacrament ends) about sacrifice. I guess when we know
the Plan, the eternal scheme of things, all of a sudden, all those big
sacrifices don't seems so "big". And that's what I tried to
help everyone to see.

The whole thing just
makes sense. It's simple. And I sure love to share it! Yet
another week has sped passed. Holding on tight is yours truly,

It's September! Being
the first "ber" month of the year, Christmas has officially started
in the Philippines. This was made sure as we started off our sacrament
meeting yesterday with the stirring "Angels We Have Heard On High"
(that's the one where we sing "Gloooooorrrrriiiiiiiaaaaaaa" several
times in a million different pitches - classic). So on top of shouting
that lovely song, I had the opportunity to yell my lungs out at this old guy
last night. He was... pretty darn old. He was also convinced that
even though he practically lost his hearing that if we really, truly howl our
hearts hearts out, he's hear us. Took me about five tries of good
screaming at him for him to stop speaking some sort of weird broken
English because he finally realized we speak Tagalog... He
said we could come visit him again. And on that note, it's been a good
week.

Probably the biggest,
most exciting part of the week was seeing some one from home. So shout
out to Elder Max Moncur! He got here on Wednesday last week (8/28/13)
and since he is in my zone, we got to pull some strings and go to his district
meeting on Friday! (see pictures). We went to lunch together after too (:
It was great to see him and catch up. It wasn't until though he
pointed it out that I realized how amazing it was to actually see
him. Here I am, been in some crazy group of islands in the middle of the
Pacific Ocean for the past year, being totally immersed in a foreign culture
and language so much so that I really do feel like I've become one of these
people., and now, just when I'm thinking my past life was just a dream, in
comes someone that I used to see at home and actually associate with!
Represent Santa Margarita Stake! Yes, I concede we did move to a
different stake just before I left, but... What a small world! Hah, not
sure if I'll ever be able to call him anything Elder rather than just Max.

And you know, it's
really going great right now. I had my foot saved the other day. I
had ingrown toenails that I thought I'd have to get surgery for, turns out my
mission president's wife just made me get a pedicure. But that's not the
same foot saving story I'm about to share (though it is certainly something for
another day). I was sitting on a triccy (those motorcycles with a side
car thing attached) on the motorcycle part facing sideways. We were going
down the road and I had me feet resting out pretty far. then, out of
nowhere, I quickly felt to "Pull my feet in!" A moment later,
"Whooooooooooshh!" - another triccy came down the road and would have
definitely swiped my feet had I not moved them. Phew! Anyways,
that's small. But it still shows me how protected and guided we really
are here.

So despite being
constantly tired, there's ever more for us to do. We got a call a few
days ago. There are going to be 14 new missionaries in our zone next
transfer! That's a lot! We had another journey with the supply
couple missionaries to find things for new apartments and what not. It
may be that the two-person party in our mansion home gets shut down. they
want two more elders here! Even though our fancy washing machine will be
more crowded, it's certainly still better than doing wash like in other areas.
For some reason, I'm thinking that washing clothes in a dirty river, no
matter how much soap you use, then leaving them on the sandy bank to dry is just
not going to result the most effective cleaning. Not sure. But I'm
thankful as ever for that machine!

And so the work
continues. I continue! Great new families and a bunch of
letters [ thanks! (: ] have added even more to this week. Love it!

Love, Elder Shane Scully
Brown

Pictures -

1. Max and I after
district meeting!

2. A tindahan.
Basically one of the hundreds of little shop things that line every
little street, in every little neighborhood.

3. Some different
kinds of bananas I eat. The big one costs 50 pesos per kilo and the small
only costs 3 pesos per kilo. (up to you to do those conversions)

4. This cloud
looking think was what I was pretty sure was going to turn into some crazy
tornado. Nothing happen...

Team! What a great
week I've had! We went to some more waterfalls this morning, just
beautiful! (Alldredge almost fell from the top... That and falling
through the church roof last week have basically left me with now trust in this
guy...). I try to find interesting thoughts/pictures to send home
each week and guess what, you'll hopefully get some good ones in the
next few weeks because E. Alldredge and I are not getting
transferred.Why does us not being transferred mean more interesting
things and better pictures? Because this is Alldredge's LAST transfer!
He goes home in 6 weeks!! We've after today now got five Pdays
to visit all the cool places in the area. Should be fun.

On Friday we were
planning out this week and we had to get out new planners for this transfer.
We were surprised when we realized that this is his last planner of the
mission! (we get a new one every transfer - 6 weeks). I'm pretty sure
that at this point I'm thinking more about going home than he is, but that's
besides the point. It's just fun with him about being done for me to look
back and see how far I've actually come. I can't help
sometimes but to laugh at myself for things I used to do. It's
been great though in Naga Mission Or now,
Legaspi Mission Hah, it's been two months now of
Legaspi Mission and I'm only just starting to finally
give up the old Naga Mission theme song and begin to memorize the new
one here. It's a great time to be a missionary, lots happening
We had district conference this weekend Even though
the entire district (all of the branches) was about the size (if not smaller)
of a normal ward at home, there are some great pans for this to be a stake
someday. Also, we've been meeting with the District President talking
about our little group becoming it's own branch! (:

So Saturday, because of
the district conference we help with some home teaching
in our area. Guess who our home
teaching companions were - the District President and
the Mission President! So great. We taught a family who's
husband served as a branch president for a number of years but now
they're all inactive. We spoke very frankly about
the promises of God. That they are certain, when we
hold up our end of the bargain. Even though this family is sealed in the
temple, that it is still based on their worthiness. If they give up now
then their sealing cannot last! So I asked the parents you know how it
would feel to have even just one family member missing. Even just one...
It's be a horrible feeling. And then I realized - would I not be just
as sad if this family didn't make it as if mine own didn't? I
would be devastated if just one of my family
couldn't pass into exaltation. And so why would I not feel the
exact some way if these, my brothers and sisters failed to qualify. I
would. Having now realized that, and with a deepened love, I strive to
more fully rely on the Spirit to do all I can. To help this
family, and all others, to make certain the promises of God, because of their
faith and obedience.

It's the most rewarding
work. It gives me the most rewarding feeling. I try and try and try
to express this over emails. I use different words, scriptures,
etc. This week I stumbled upon something
I really view as treasure - Alma 37:44-47. Pretty much, if we
will simply look to Christ (it is simple) and give our all, we will be led on a
straight course to Eternal Bliss. Eternal bliss. Bliss, joy,
happiness and peace that never ends! I want that. I
want all to have that. It's just the best! (: